@inesmartins 

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inesmartins

New Member from Portugal :)

Hi everyone! My name is Ines, I'm 25 and I live in Portugal. I'm a new member and I was really happy to find this site :) I found that I have MS in November 2011, so this is something that is recent for me, and I still fell anxious every monday when I have to take the Avonex :P lol. In Augost 2008 I noticed that my left hip and part of my leg was feeling numb, I went to the doctor and she say that was nothing...maybe a back problem and told me to go swim. After 2 months of feeling that numbness it sudendly stop. But after 6 months after I did a walk to my work my left leg stated to feel tingling, but I thought that was just my "back problem". One month later I woke up and felt really dizzy, and this didnt stop for 2 weeks...went to doctor, did a ear exam... "Maybe you're tired, don't worry it will stop". Yes, it stoped... but my left leg until today, everytime I walk for 5 minutes, the moment that I stop the tingling starts again... October last year I went to a Neurologist and after 10 minutes explaining my story, he suspected right away (but didnt tell me) i did exames...that I never heard of. When I was waiting for the results I had a relapse again (nausea and dizzyness) and 2 days after, my doctor called me to go to hospital in that day, and I asked him if he already knew wht it was the problem, and he said he wasnt sure and I needed to go to stay on the hospital for a few days and do a LP. My hart jumped..."LP? but...do you think I have MS??" he replied like he didnt want to tell me " It may be...". When I hang up the phone, looked at my husband and started to cry so much... My idea of MS wasn't the same as today, and like me in that time, there's a lot of people that dont know what is MS. When I tell people they think that probably in a few days I'm going to be on a wheelchair or die -_-' xx
@thechunkeymonk

Hi Ines, welcome on board! Even though there are a lot of people who have MS, it is still something that a lot of people don't understand. You often only hear about the extreme cases in the newspapers, which doesn't really represent the majority of people with MS. It is also very common that it isn't diagnosed when symptoms first occur, as they can be so varied that they often get mistaken for something else. This means that it can be a shock when you do find out - it was for me to - but you seem to be in a positive frame of mind at the moment, which is a really good thing. If there is anything that is worrying you then this a a really great place to get some friendly support and advice, so don't hesitate to get in touch. :-)

@catarina

Olá Inês=) I'm Catarina, I'm 26 and I'm also portuguese (and clearly, I also have MS=P) I found this space a few days ago and I am delighted with it - so many stories, answers and people with so many different views and experiences... I found out I had MS in october 2010 and have experienced all kinds of reactions: I was optimistic, then angry, then sad, then optimistic again, it's been almost 2 years now and I'm still "hangovered". But I'm still playing football when I can, partying, traveling and keeping optimistic. We have MS and, therefore, 2 choices: living with MS and a bad temper because of it.... or living with MS with as much joy and humour as we can. Its easiest to say then do, I know, but I really believe that's what we should think, even in those days we just want to "mandar todo o mundo ao raio que o parta". SPEM (sociedade portuguesa de esclerose multipla) asked me a few weeks ago to start a blog about how to live with MS and all other things, and I am receiving all kinds of stories and testimonies from very strong people, who just happens to have MS (as we do). Its in the beginning, and it obviously its much more modest than this space - but its aboutt portuguese people with ms, it's one more place to go and, well... more close voices are starting (just starting) to be heard=)its eoutrascoisastambem.blogspot.pt Beijinhos, feel free to write me if you want*